By Beth S. Patterson, MA, LPC, Grief & Loss Topic Expert Contributor

Click here to contact Beth and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile

The intense and painful experiences of grief are generally considered “normal.” However, when those experiences are extremely distressing, unduly interfere with day-to-day functioning or do not subside to a manageable level over time, the bereaved may be experiencing complicated or traumatic grief. Complicated grief has been proposed as a new diagnostic category in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), and suggested components of the diagnosis include (1) that sufferers experience bereavement by death; (2) that their reactions include intrusive and distressing symptoms, including yearning, longing and searching for the deceased; and (3) that the bereaved exhibit at least four marked and persistent trauma reactions, which may include: “avoidance of reminders of the deceased, purposelessness, feelings of futility, difficulty imagining a life without the deceased, numbness, detachment, feeling stunned, dazed or shocked, feeling that life is empty or meaningless, feeling a part of oneself has died, disbelief, excessive anger or bitterness related to the death, and identification symptoms or harmful behaviors resembling those suffered by the deceased” (Mitchell et al, 2004, p. 13).

Even in cases that do not fit the criteria for complicated grief as described above, the events surrounding the death may be sufficiently traumatic to interfere with daily functioning or result in unrelenting distress. As a psychotherapist specializing in grief and loss, I have found EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) to be an effective tool for alleviating trauma in grief. As in grief, trauma affects the whole person — body, mind and spirit, and on a hierarchy of needs, trauma must be dealt with in order for the healing process of grief to proceed in a healthy, and healing, fashion. Read the rest of this entry

Written by Sarah Jenkins, MC, LPC

Click here to contact Sarah and/or see her GoodTherapy.org Profile

Sit down, and let me tell you a story, a fable that tells of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It is a fable, written by Aesop, that you may be curious to learn, and can tell us of addiction’s common deceptions. Perhaps you will find the lesson in the beginning, or even at the end, but you will be curious about what you will soon learn, as you read on.

“A wolf found great difficulty in getting at the sheep owing to the vigilance of the shepherd and his dogs. But one day it found the skin of a sheep that had been flayed and thrown aside, so the wolf put it on over its own pelt and strolled down among the sheep.

A lamb began to follow the wolf in the Sheep’s clothing. So, leading the lamb a little apart, he soon made a meal of her. For some time he succeeded in deceiving the sheep, and enjoying hearty meals.”

What’s Underneath: The Wolf Read the rest of this entry